Paul Andrew Bourne, 2Chad Chambers, 3Damion K. Blake, 4Charlene Sharpe-Pryce and 5Ikhalfani Solan
1
Socio-Medical Research Institute (Formerly, Department of Community Health and Psychiatry, the
University of the West Indies, Mona)
2
Western Union, Grace Kennedy, Jamaica
3
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 409 Major Williams Hall
4
Chair, Department of History, Northern Caribbean University, Mandeville, Jamaica
5
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, South Carolina State University
Abstract: In 2007, a stratified random sample of 1,338 Jamaicans revealed that 11 out of every 27 indicated that
crime and violence was the leading problem of the nation. The Lottery Scam, a growing financial crime, is widely
practiced in many developing nations, inclusive of Jamaica, where the matter has got the attention of public security
management. The Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF, Year) formed a task force in 2012 to critically investigate this
phenomenon which has been plaguing private businesses for more than a decade. This study will, examine the
Lottery Scam Business from an empirical perspective and provide invaluable insights into its operations, politics and
economics. A 2-dimensional epistemological framework is used in this study, objectivism and constructionist. The
theoretical framework employed is interpreted by positivism and interpretive hence, the use of survey research,
documentary analysis, focus group and elite interviews with participants. The participants were purposively drawn
because there is no population register of lottery matters. It follows, therefore, that the study used a snow balling
approach to allot participants, those incarcerated, awaiting time for trial, police officers, private investigators and
participants introducing the researchers to others involved in different aspect of scamming activities. The
development and continuation of the lottery scam is primarily because of the general decay in the economy.
Peoples involvement in lottery scamming and by extension related criminal activities such as murders is
substantially an economics issue. The lottery scam and its relationship with increased murder is again another subset
of the general worsening in the state of the Jamaican economy and why this illegal activity continues to pull people
to such actions. Hence, murders associated with the lottery scam cannot be simply solved by way of police or
judiciary intervention as their cause is an economic one and can only be effectively addressed as such.
Keywords: Crime, Jamaica, lottery scam, money embezzlement, murder, security management
continues and personal freedom has to be sacrificed in
order to address the problem, then the need will arise
for analysis of the political culture (Munroe, 2002).
Munroes interpretation of the crime phenomenon
in Jamaica does not only highlight the problem
forwarded by Bourne and other scholars, but shows
how politics is interwoven into the crime and violence
narrative (Munroe, 2002). It also provides a
justification for security management in the violent
crime milieu, how political culture as well as socioeconomic characteristics fosters various types of crime
(Bourne and Solan, 2012) and the interrelation between
money misdemeanours and other violent crimes. The
objective of this study is to examine the Lottery Scam
Operations in Jamaica from an empirical perspective
and provide invaluable insights into its operations,
politics and economics as well as it marriage to
criminal
activities.
The contemporary crime
INTRODUCTION
Jamaica is among the top 10 most murderous
nations in the world (Bourne et al., 2012) Rising crime
is a major security challenge throughout the Caribbean,
including Jamaica, which had the highest murder rate in
the world in 2005 with a rate of 60 persons per 100,000
inhabitants (Sullivan, 2006). The number of murders
reported in Jamaica annually is more than the number
of deaths by HIV and is relatively close to those
mortalities by diabetes mellitus (Bourne, 2012)
The prevalence of violent crimes in Jamaica goes
back to pre-emancipation, when the revolt of the slaves
would lead to their capture and murder (Bourne and
Solan, 2012) Ostensibly, Jamaica has a culture of
violence which manifests itself in diverse ways but
more so in the consistently high rates of murder since
the 1960s (Bourne et al., 2012).If crime and violence
Corresponding Author: Paul Andrew Bourne, Socio-Medical Research Institute (Formerly, Department of Community Health
and Psychiatry, the University of the West Indies, Mona), Tel.: 803-536-8678
19
y = f(x 1 , x 2, , x 3 , x 4 , x 5 , x 6 , x 7 )
(1)
where,
y = Hours spent in criminal activities
x 1 = Wage for an hour spent in criminal activity
x 2 = Hourly wage in legal employment
x 3 = Income other than from crime or employment
25
(2)
LITERATURE REVIEW
The longstanding theory that poverty is causally
related to crime (Tremblay, 1995) or that there is an
association between the two phenomena (Levy, 1996;
Ellis, 1991, 1992; Moser and Van Bronkhorst, 1999;
Robotham, 2003; Harriott, 2004; Moser and Holland,
1997; UN, 2007) was disproved by Bourne (2011).
Using secondary data for 21 years on Jamaica, Bourne
found that the relationship between poverty and crime
26
o
o
o
o
o
METHODOLOGY
Many scholars, for example, (Crotty, 2005;
Neuman 2006; Boxill et al., 1997; Babbie, 2007;
Bryman and Cramer, 2005) have written on social
research methods but the researcher has found Michael
Crottys monograph aptly fitting for this study as it
summarized the research process in a diagrammatic and
systematic manner while providing elaborate details of
each component. In the text titled the foundations of
social research: Meaning and perspective in the
research process, Crotty (2005) aggregated the
research process in four schema (i.e. four questions
which must be answer in examining social phenomena),
namely
Methods
Methodology
Theoretical perspective
Epistemology
Research questions
Contextual framework
Theoretical framework
Methodology
Method
Allow for the interpretation of the data (Burnham
et al., 2004)
Operational definitions:
Lottery scam: An illegal activity in which someone
seeks another to disburse money to him/her on the basis
that he/she (inducee) has won a prize (or money) in a
lottery game or other gaming. The inducement is such
that the induce has not won anything; but is convinced
that this is so which means that the entire concept is
based on a false claim (premise). In essence, Lottery
Scam is a form of advanced fee fraud.
Economics: This terminology refers to:
Money
Financial resources
Style of dressing
Colour of garments
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF
SCAMMING IN JAMAICA
A senior police officer said he was the first to
arrest a scammer in 1998. During the interview with the
senior police officer and one of the leading financial
crimes investigator on lottery scamming in Jamaica,
Ms. Arrest (pseudo name), said that the first group of
people were Nigerians. They noted that four Nigerians
operated the scamming business from Montego Bay, St.
James (Western Jamaica). The Nigerians were later
deportee and Jamaican $1.4 returned to scammed
victims; but by then they had interfaced with many
Jamaicans who were introduced into the activities.
Both police officers contended that when the matter
came up in 1998, it was because of 15 complaints made
by people in American whom claimed that they had
won Australian Sweepstake from a Jamaican area code
and were experiencing collected their prized money.
Finances/Economics: Money is the primary
inducement for involvement and entry into the Lottery
Scam Industry. All the police officers and private
investigator concur that the volume of money was a
pull factor into Lottery Scamming activities. One police
officer noted that greed was the motivated and another
remarked the benefits of spending power as well as the
likely accumulation of material possessions drove the
activity and attract new entrants. One senior police
officer remarked that many of the scammers owned cars
(including SUVs); luxurious mansions; families are
well pampered; current scammer have lavish lifestyle
and sport luxuries gifts as well as spend extravagantly
on gifts. He noted that a scammer was caught when he
went to purchase a gift, opened a briefcase of USD in
front of a store clerk and offered to buy the item paying
in cash. Current scammers, wanting updated
information (bio-data as well as credit card, banking
data, telephone number and internet contact) on likely
inducees, would give lavish gifts to telemarkers. Wired
transactions clerks are also charm with expensive gifts,
monies and their families sported in order to induce
participation from the employed clerks.
According to Jamaica Gleaner, the Immigration
and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E) Arm of the United
States Department of Homeland Security estimated that
US citizens were scammed US$ 30 million per year by
Jamaicans (Jamaica Gleaner, 2011c). The Jamaican
Gleaner in 2011 (Jamaica Gleaner, 2011b) indicated
that the police said Lawrence [alleged Lottery scammer
32
34
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
Enforcers
Liaison with hotel workers, cashiers (customer
service representatives), tellers
Assigned to recruiting call centre representatives
Facsimile
Computers
Telephones
Players:
The players in the Lottery Scam Industry is equally
outside of telemarkers, Wired transactions cashiers,
students, bank clerks and direct scammers to police
officers. A senior police officer who was conferred
by private investigators and actual scammers that
police personnel are also a part of the process. The
actuality of the aforementioned is also confirmed
by two police officers being charged for breaches
of anti-corruption Act (Jamaica Observer, 2012).
Lottery scammers have
Responsibility
Authority
Embezzlement
Credit card fraud
Vehicle racketeering
Illegal possession of guns
Robbery
Murder
Shootings
Mail fraud
Wire fraud and theft of computers
Taxes
Legal costs
Federal charges
Courier service costs
Investigatory and administrative charges
o
o
o
Singapore
Canada
United Kingdom, although it is not limited to those
localities
Greed
Unemployment
Culture - Anansi/Jinalship is engrained in our
culture. Jamaicans tend to look for ways to break a
system. Get rich quick mentality and flamboyance
Replacement of funds from the crippling of the
drug trade.
Master minds
Intermediate players
Outside aiders (cashiers, hotel workers, call centre
representatives)
Ordinal players
More sanction
More stringent punishment
Economic opportunities
Re-education
Values-and-attitude rebuilding is needed to curb
lottery scamming in Jamaica
Murder
Financial embezzlement
Victimization of people by criminal networks
Greed
Love of crime to the economics of survivability
and social challenges in the general society
o
o
Innately wicked
Sinful
Corrupt
Under-socialized
Psychological different
Weakness in the laws
Marginalized
o
o
o
o
o
It is more in keeping with the economics of
survivability, the economics of crimes and economics
of punishment (Becker, 1968; Bourne et al., 2012;
Bourne, 2011). Manunta (1998) aptly encapsulated the
crime and security matter that security is a function of
asset, protector, threat and specific situation. In
embedded in Manuntas perspective is the economics
labelled as assets and the issues that pull people into
criminality.
o
o
Respect
Economic independence
Escape from financial difficulties
Socio-political power
Alleviation from hunger as well as food insecurity
o
o
CONCLUSION
For over a decade, the lottery scam has been
allowed to flourish in Jamaica without the intervention
of the state, particularly public security management
and involvement (Jamaican Police Force). Prior to the
intervention of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF,
Year) and by extension outside agencies, there was a
private fragmented approach to security management as
it relates to lottery scamming. During this time, the
lottery scammers have developed their operations,
mastered the art and process, engaged into other illegal
activities and terrorized many communities. Despite the
reduction in the numbers of violent crimes in Jamaica
over the past ten years, lottery scams have grown,
defrauded more people, contributed to the rise in
murders, corrupted more Jamaicans and destroyed more
family lives. The volume of monies held by lottery
scammers is making it increasingly difficult for local
law enforcement officers to solve crimes in many
communities as scammers are able to use money power
to:
Intimidate
Persuade
Influence
Change thinking
Revert the course of justice
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